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Topic: kimono panel: discuss and share (Read 1173 times)

Hi everyone: I've been to one Kumoricon, the last year it was in Portland. Finally coming again this year (my husband is the real anime fan in the house, I'm into Japanese art and textiles). Anyway, when we went that last time, I did a panel on Kimono and Haori, which I collect. It was a lot of fun, and people seemed thrilled that I brought samples and allowed them to be handled. I have a huge collection, with pieces from pre-WWII to current day. I would be quite happy to do another such panel and bring more samples from my collection. I am NOT by any means an expert, just an enthusiastic amateur collector. I know a little bit about history, textile dyeing methods, and so on (two of my favorites are shibori and yuzen and I have nice examples of both!) I love to share my enthusiasm with others. I'm also happy to share info on where to find such items at bargain prices (and you don't have to travel to Japan!)

I collect kimono as well and have been learning the art of dressing myself. (I just wish I can be out and about more to actually wear them!) Just this year I wore a dream cosplay of mine to a con for the first time, involving a full furisode ensemble, so I'm very amped up on kimono!

Sui, I've sent in my panel application, so we'll see what the con committee thinks! I've taken a couple of "how to wear a kimono" workshops and still have never worn one correctly, it's just too much work! And I don't have the proper underclothing, really. But I love kimono and haori, and have a couple of hanten in my collection and some really cool men's nagajuban (they make great con wear, throw them on over black pants and a black turtleneck shirt). And of course haori are fun to wear to dress up every-day western style wear (as in regular clothing worn by us folks here in the US).

I looked at your link, how wonderful! All that work you did to put everything together. I will have to have you speak on the panel too!

I've visited the Immortal Geisha forums a few times, but don't really do so regularly.

Yeah, dressing is an entire learning curve onto itself. XD I'm glad though there's an entire industry dedicated to finding ways to make it even a little bit easier! I'm chronically ill so I wouldn't be able to dress at all if it weren't for such things. (My favorites include a belt that allows you to be able to tie an obi in front and turn it a lot easier, and a device that allows you to form complicated obi knots before you actually put it on. There are also easier undergarments, such as kimono slips with sleeves and bottoms you can change out to simulate a nagajuban layer. I personally prefer to wear all the layers though, I like the weight.)

Weirdly enough, I don't own a single haori. I suppose I just haven't fallen head over heels over one yet. XD I do find myself getting really envious of the men's haori, I'm nuts about shishi lion-dogs and the lining on so many of them just blow me away!

Hopefully the panel will be accepted, my fingers are crossed! I always really love sharing enthusiasm for kimono, they're really amazing works of art in many ways.

I know a bit about the dressing process (as I said I took a couple of basic workshops). What gets me is the really fine details for such things as how much of the edge of the underkimono collar should show, the appropriate obi knots for the kimono you are wearing, and even the position of the obijime! Also the Japanese color sense is very different from the Western/European color sense, so sometimes I'll see obi and kimono combinations that seem jarring at first.

I've seen pictures of the device that helps with the obi tying.

I find it interesting that you actually like the weight of all the layers! I know I've often heard people complain about that. And I have a sister-in-law who got married to a gentleman from Japan. They had two weddings, one here in the States for her family, and one in Japan for his. The wedding in Japan was the full-on formal Shinto wedding. I've seen the wedding photos from that one, and there are at least a couple in which she is trying really hard not to show how uncomfortable she is! Very beautiful of course, but not the most comfortable thing to wear, what with the layers of kimono and the wig pinned to her head and everything else.

The very first piece I ever got was a kimono. The two friends I love to "blame" for my hobby had purchased a bale of kimono (this was 20+ years ago because it was at least a year or two before I got married), and brought some of the kimono to a party at another friend's house. They knew that enough of us were interested in costuming and/or textile junkies that they could sell at least a few of these piece. One of the two friends pulled one out of the pile for me and said "here, Amy, I think you'll like this one." Yes I did and I bought it from her. When I got married, she gave me another kimono as a wedding gift, and I was doomed. Within the first year of my marriage, John (my husband) and I went to a huge antique show, and there was a vendor there who had both Chinese and Japanese clothing among other things. You should have seen the exquisite Chinese embroidered robe I tried on! However, it was several hundred dollars outside my price range. So he showed me some other things, and I fell in love with this wonderful burgundy colored haori. This was before I had really learned much about the various dyeing methods, so I didn't really at the time I bought it that it actually had some very simple but interesting shibori work. It is also a wonderful patterned silk, with a design of mountains on it. That was my first haori. And I've been collecting ever since!